Third suspect arrested in Houston cold case death

Pedro Covarrubias Ramirez has been arrested and charged with murder in the 1991 death of an unidentified man in the Denver Harbor neighborhood. (HPD photo)

As authorities pursue a possible lead in the victim’s identity after nearly 21 years, a third suspect has been arrested and charged with murder in a 1991 slaying.

Pedro Covarrubias Ramirez, 40, of Houston, is accused of taking part in the shooting and stabbing of a man known only as “Mario” on Aug. 31, 1991 in the Denver Harbor neighborhood.

Ramirez was arrested Wednesday and remained Thursday in the Harris County Jail on $80,000 bond, according to online law enforcement records.

He is the brother of Benito Ramirez, who was arrested June 5 and is also charged with murder in the case. Benito Ramirez is in jail on no bond.

A cousin of the Ramirez brothers, Alejo Garcia Ramirez, was arrested June 15 in Oklahoma in connection with the case. Alejo Ramirez remained in Oklahoma Thursday while Houston authorities worked to have him extradited to Harris County, said Angela Weltin, a prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.

Weltin said investigators have a possible lead on the identity of the victim, described by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science as a Hispanic male between the ages of 25 and 35. He was 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighed 141 pounds.

According to court records, a man told homicide investigators that in 1991, he heard Benito Ramirez boast that he, with the help of two other suspects, lured “Mario” from the former El Rey bar in the 6900 block of Lyons. After stabbing the victim, the men allegedly forced him, alive and bleeding, inside the trunk of Benito Ramirez’s car, records state.

The men left the body in a field near the 1400 block of Gazin, where Benito Ramirez allegedly shot “Mario” in the head multiple times, records state.

Later, to verify that the victim was dead, they returned to the scene, where Pedro Ramirez allegedly stabbed the body, cutting his own right hand in the process because the body had stiffened, records state.